"Americans no longer look to government for economic security; rather, they look to their portfolios"
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Owens is naming a quiet regime change: the replacement of civic guarantees with private bets. The line is built on a stark before-and-after contrast - “no longer” versus “rather” - that does more than describe voter attitudes. It frames a cultural pivot from a New Deal-style expectation (government as backstop) to a market-centered identity (the portfolio as protector). The genius of the phrasing is its compression: “economic security” sounds collective and structural; “portfolios” sounds individualized, technical, and aspirational. One word swaps a citizen for an investor.
The subtext cuts two ways. On one hand, it’s a critique of financialization: retirement, healthcare, housing, even dignity in old age are increasingly routed through 401(k)s, home equity, and asset prices. When markets wobble, so does the national mood, because insecurity has been securitized. On the other hand, it’s a political observation about legitimacy. If people don’t look to government for security, they may also stop tolerating the taxes, regulations, and social programs that once made that security plausible. The portfolio becomes not just a savings vehicle but a worldview: policies are judged by whether they lift the Dow or protect property values.
Context matters: late-20th-century deregulation, the decline of unions, and the bipartisan embrace of “ownership society” rhetoric trained Americans to treat risk as virtue and volatility as normal. Owens is pointing at the downstream consequence: a democracy that increasingly feels like a brokerage account with elections attached.
The subtext cuts two ways. On one hand, it’s a critique of financialization: retirement, healthcare, housing, even dignity in old age are increasingly routed through 401(k)s, home equity, and asset prices. When markets wobble, so does the national mood, because insecurity has been securitized. On the other hand, it’s a political observation about legitimacy. If people don’t look to government for security, they may also stop tolerating the taxes, regulations, and social programs that once made that security plausible. The portfolio becomes not just a savings vehicle but a worldview: policies are judged by whether they lift the Dow or protect property values.
Context matters: late-20th-century deregulation, the decline of unions, and the bipartisan embrace of “ownership society” rhetoric trained Americans to treat risk as virtue and volatility as normal. Owens is pointing at the downstream consequence: a democracy that increasingly feels like a brokerage account with elections attached.
Quote Details
| Topic | Investment |
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